Russian President Commissions Kaliningrad LNG Terminal

Russian President Vladimir Putin inaugurated a liquefied natural gas (LNG) import terminal that will serve as a back-up gas supply solution for the Russian enclave of Kaliningrad on the Baltic Sea. The facility includes floating storage regasification unit (FSRU) in Baltic Sea enclave.

Launch of a gas-receiving terminal and floating storage regasification platform in Kaliningrad Region. Photo: President of Russia Website

Gazprom CEO Alexei Miller said: "The floating storage regasification platform is currently moored at the receiving terminal; that platform will convert LNG into gas to pump into the underground facility and to supply to consumers in Kaliningrad Region."

Putin said that the Kaliningrad region is no longer dependent on transit gas supplies. According to him, commissioning a gas receiving terminal into a storage facility with a floating regasification unit would nullify the transit risks for the Kaliningrad region.

The terminal, built in the Baltic Sea, consists of a pier protected by a breakwater, where a floating storage regasification unit, the Marshal Vasilevsky tanker, is moored.

The vessel converts LNG delivered by sea back to natural gas, which is then distributed to consumers or pumped into the Kaliningrad underground gas storage facility, a sealed natural gas reservoir buried deep in rock salt sediment.

The first such project carried out by Gazprom in Russia, this alternative gas supply option for Kaliningrad Region is to increase the region’s energy security, given its unique location.

According to TASS, Kaliningrad underground gas storage (UGS) is the first in the country sealed natural reservoir created in deep sediments of rock salt. It is expected that the alternative variant of gas supply to the Kaliningrad region, launched with the participation of the president, using LNG delivered by sea, will increase the energy security of the region, taking into account its location.